Another of my traditional bonkers extra inning losses

[bwburke94]

I seem to have a thing for losing crazy games in extra innings.

I'm the Astros in an offline fantasy draft league. (It's a one-subleague setup with no designated hitter.) The day prior, my starting pitcher Justin Masterson, got hurt in the third inning, so after running through my bullpen, I had to use Edwin Jackson (the next scheduled SP) to protect a one-run lead in the bottom of the tenth.

Adding to the hilarity, John Axford was also hurt, and was DtD (30%) for 5 days. (Thankfully, Masterson's injury was a one day injury, so he was available for the next game, not that it would matter... right?)

This left Andre Rienzo pitching on short rest, which I thought wasn't too much of a problem given he had only thrown 65 pitches on Saturday.

I thought wrong. Rienzo lasted all of two innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on three hits and four walks. With my bullpen shot and an off day tomorrow, I just tried to mop up the damage with the relievers whose arms hadn't fallen off.

I was down 9-2 entering the seventh. Brett Lawrie hit a solo homer in the seventh to make it 9-3, but it seemed like too little, too late.

In the top of the eighth, I had four remaining bench players: C Christian Bethancourt, 1B Justin Morneau, 2B Angel Chavez, and CF Paulo Orlando. With a runner on first and none out, I pinch-hit Morneau for my thoroughly gassed reliever, but he flew out.

Everth Cabrera singled and Joey Votto - my regular first baseman - walked, loading the bases. Figuring that Votto would be out of the game anyway because Morneau would take first base, I pinch-ran for Votto... but to avoid burning a bench player, I used Edwin Jackson as the pinch-runner!

Andruw Jones struck out for the second out, but Brett Lawrie walked, scoring Jabari Blash from third base. It was now a 9-4 game with the tying run on deck.

Looking for the platoon advantage, I pinch-hit the right handed Paulo Orlando for the left handed Jim Adduci, only for the Giants to counter by sending in right-handed pitcher Buck Farmer. Orlando hit a two-run single, scoring Cabrera and Jackson, and it was now 9-6!

After a Jonathan Schoop walk put the tying run on base, the Giants double-switched lefty Vidal Nuno into the game against left-handed bat George Kottaras. I counter by pinch-hitting Christian Bethancourt for Kottaras, and I also pinch-ran Angel Chavez for Schoop, burning up my last bench player - and it's still the eighth inning!

Bethancourt hit a three-run double, tying the game and bringing Blash back around to the plate. Blash's RBI double, his second hit of the inning, gave my Astros a shocking 10-9 lead, which increased to 11-9 when he advanced to third on a wild pickoff throw and Morneau hit an RBI single.

Sadly, Everth Cabrera made the third out, which means I didn't get to pinch-hit a pitcher for a pinch-runner who was also a pitcher. Also, with no bench players left, I couldn't double switch out of having to bat the pitcher in the ninth inning.

Manny Acosta, my last remaining reliever other than the injured Axford, took the mound to protect an 11-9 lead... and promptly blew it in the bottom of the eighth. The game was tied 11-11 heading into the ninth, with Acosta due up first, and that's where the game got really weird.

I pinch-hit Justin Masterson - the previous day's starting pitcher, who had fully recovered from his injury - for Acosta! Sadly, I didn't get any heroics from a pitcher pressed into pinch-hitting duties, and went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth.

With Acosta now out of the game, I was left with no rested relievers, but I realized that tomorrow was an off day and I could use Julio Teheran in relief! He retired the Giants in order - including their last available pinch hitter - and for the second straight day, we were playing bonus baseball.

I got two runners on in the top of the tenth, but Morneau struck out to end the threat.

In the bottom of the tenth, Teheran again retired the Giants 1-2-3, but I realized his day was done, having thrown 111 pitches on Sunday. Oh, and the pitcher's spot was due up in the top of the eleventh, which means James Paxton (another pitcher) got his turn to pinch-hit, the third Astros starter to play in the game without actually pitching! This also means that every member of my rotation played in the game.

With no other options that hadn't pitched three days in a row, I was forced to turn to the injured John Axford in the bottom of the eleventh, with the score still tied 11-11. To his credit, he did get two outs, but he just couldn't get the third out, and Drew Robinson drove in J.D. Martinez to give the Giants a 12-11 win.

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Two quick little notes about the game:

1. The game was played on April 15 (Jackie Robinson Day), so it's appropriate that a player named Robinson would get the winning hit.
2. I don't have Play Index access at the moment, but the three pitchers in PH/PR duties is not an MLB record, as there are three cases of four pitchers doing so. I'll link to the box scores once I get my subscription squared away.

[james17]

Good post! Very entertaining.